Wow.... Detroit police chief: Legal gun owners can deter crime

[erik the bold]

I no longer live near Detroit, but grew up in a close suburb.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140103/METRO01/301030038/Detroit-police-chief-Legal-gun-owners-can-deter-crime?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Detroit— If more citizens were armed, criminals would think twice about attacking them, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said Thursday.

Urban police chiefs are typically in favor of gun control or reluctant to discuss the issue, but Craig on Thursday was candid about how he’s changed his mind.

“When we look at the good community members who have concealed weapons permits, the likelihood they’ll shoot is based on a lack of confidence in this Police Department,” Craig said at a press conference at police headquarters, adding that he thinks more Detroit citizens feel safer, thanks in part to a 7 percent drop in violent crime in 2013.

Craig said he started believing that legal gun owners can deter crime when he became police chief in Portland, Maine, in 2009.

“Coming from California (Craig was on the Los Angeles police force for 28 years), where it takes an act of Congress to get a concealed weapon permit, I got to Maine, where they give out lots of CCWs (carrying concealed weapon permits), and I had a stack of CCW permits I was denying; that was my orientation.

“I changed my orientation real quick. Maine is one of the safest places in America. Clearly, suspects knew that good Americans were armed.”

But.......Apparently, you can't have it all, or he just don't get it:

Although Craig said more responsible gun owners would likely lower crime, in the past he also has called for a ban on assault weapons, regulating high-capacity magazines, tighter restrictions on Internet ammunition sales and more stringent background checks for merchants who sell firearms at gun shows

[Stetson]

The actual city of Detroit is not much of a factor right now.  The suburbs are the driving forces.  It's where all these people with CCWs live.

[vaskidmark]

...
But.......Apparently, you can't have it all, or he just don't get it:

I would not go along with your conclusion.  Seems he had an epiphany while up in Maine.  He used to not get it; now he seems to get it.

stay safe.

[Hawkmoon]

I would not go along with your conclusion.  Seems he had an epiphany while up in Maine.  He used to not get it; now he seems to get it.

stay safe.

No he doesn't. There are two Maines: Maine ... and Portland. Portland is nowhere near as gun-tolerant (I wouldn't even consider writing "gun-friendly") as the rest of the state. The fact that the Portland PD is de facto anti-gun is primarily because of this clown.

[Tallpine]

Well, it's a start ....

Time to get our camel's nose under the tent for a change 

[230RN]

He's looking at it from his narrow professional viewpoint of crime reduction, as opposed to the full scope of firearms rights.

Which, as most of us know, isn't about duck 'n deer hunting or other "sporting purposes." Or, for that matter, mere self-defense.

But at least he's been thinking about the subject.

So far, so good.

Terry, 230RN

[Matthew Carberry]

Nope.

If he doesn't start spouting "the Constitution is my permit!!!!" and immediately join GOA and Oathkeepers he is the enemy and as bad as Bloomberg and Schumer combined. There is no middle ground.

I mean, that's the only rational take right? 

[Tallpine]

Nope.

If he doesn't start spouting "the Constitution is my permit!!!!" and immediately join GOA and Oathkeepers he is the enemy and as bad as Bloomberg and Schumer combined. There is no middle ground.

I mean, that's the only rational take right? 

Logically, there really is no middle ground, but some folks are still a work in progress.

It took me a long time to realize that the war on (people using some) drugs was a bad idea.

[tokugawa]

The fact that he can think this, and has the guts to verbalize it, is big- neither a hypocrite, nor a coward.

[Sergeant Bob]

Logically, there really is no middle ground, but some folks are still a work in progress.

It took me a long time to realize that the war on (people using some) drugs was a bad idea.

Excellent point indeed. A lot of the people who thought the 18th Amendment was a good idea too, eventually changed their minds when it didn't work out the way they planned.

I don't know if people (as a herd) were just smarter back then, or just weren't exposed to the GovMedia quite so much.